Staff members at Holy Cross School closed for an extra-long weekend both for the holiday and to disinfect the building.

Douglas County health officials say this is not a unique case, reporting widespread sickness across the area right now.

"When you get up into the 60's you know something is not right,” said Holy Cross principal Chris Nelson, referring to the 65 students who stayed home sick Friday. Another 30 stayed home Monday.

"Is it a sickness? Is it something they ate?” said Nelson, repeating some of the questions her staff asked. “What it could it be? It was pretty apparent that it was related to a stomach type virus."

Nelson notes that several teachers fell ill as well.

"It's unfortunate but it seems to not care about age. Everybody's welcome,” said Nelson, who cancelled class until Monday and called in 25 staff members to bleach the building.

"Anywhere a child's hand would touch is what we cleaned,” said Nelson.

"The most common cause of that would be norovirus,” said Douglas County senior epidemiologist Anne O’Keefe, though she noted she can’t be that was the cause of the sickness at Holy Cross. Experts are waiting on tests to come back.

"We need to identify what is actually causing it because different organisms have different incubation periods,” said O’Keefe.

O’Keefe said anyone feeling sick this season could have influenza, norovirus or something else.

"A lot of different viruses can cause the crud, or a bad cold like symptom,” said O’Keefe. And with Thanksgiving just days away, she has strong advice for anyone who even suspects he or she may be falling ill.

"If you do have something like this and you're going to be preparing your thanksgiving meal, you might want to consider having someone else prepare it,” said O’Keefe.

As for ways to prevent getting sick in the first place, O’Keefe offered the same advice sent in a letter to Holy Cross parents; wash your hands or use hand sanitizer and make sure your kids wash up, too. O’Keefe also says to stay home from work or activities if you are sick.

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